(AFP / FILE PHOTO / MARCO LONGARI)
The suspension of rail service between Cairo and Upper Egypt governorates was renewed on Saturday due to “vehicle malfunctions, not security issues” according to Railway Authority head Hussein Zakariya.
Zakariya told state-owned news agency, MENA, that these malfunctions “cannot be fixed at present”
Railway service between Cairo and Upper Egypt governorates resumed on Saturday after a three-month-hiatus, having been suspended since the dispersal of sit-ins supporting former President Mohamed Morsi at Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda squares on 14 August 2013.
MENA earlier reported that a train departing from Cairo arrived at Assiut on Saturday morning. Trains to all Upper Egypt governorates were scheduled to resume on Saturday except for trains to Aswan, which was supposed to resume on Sunday before the latest suspension decision.
Since the full suspension of rail service on 14 August, it was partially resumed on 28 September for certain lines. A similar decision was issued on 22 October to reduce the scope of the suspension.
The railway department faces criticism due to its vulnerability to accidents. 27 people were killed and 32 were injured when a cargo train collided with a bus and a truck at Dahshour railway crossing on the Cairo-Fayoum Road last week in the latest train crash.
